Participants:
Scene Title | That One Stray Shot |
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Synopsis | Elisabeth takes Rebecca out to the range. |
Date | July 9, 2010 |
The firing range in Crown Heights is mostly deserted at this time of day, what with most people being on duty. Elisabeth is able to book some time on the range for herself and Rebecca, though, and by virtue of their past association, it's a simple matter. Now she has the firearms and ammo ready to go and just before she brings up the headset to protect her own ears, she asks, "You have passed the the quals before, right?"
Bedecked in goggles and ear protection, Rebecca nods her head. "I have. I scored the minimum and it was about 20 months ago." Meaning her qualification date was probably coming due around the time she was asked to resign from the precinct. And it's been some time since then. She has the pistol in hand, giving it a thorough inspection for defects before she places it down on the stand. "I am not very good, which is why I want to practice and be better." She shifts her stance, then winces, reaching down to rub at her hip. Monica is kicking the crap out of her on a near daily basis.
Liz chuckles softly, knowing exactly what that wince is about. She knows about the hand-to-hand lessons — and actually she's glad Becca's taking them. "All right. Well, all you need from me, then, is company." She grins. "Go to it." She steps to the other side of the partition and checks her own weapon with competent hands. She takes good care of it and it's ready to go because she rarely goes anywhere without it now. She waits to see Becca's stance when the light changes to green — studying, learning, watching for what to correct.
Holding the pistol up, arms locked ahead, she gets this stern expression on her face, which combined with the goggles and earplugs, might look a little comical. She winces slightly and then squeezes with all her might!
Nothing.
Rebecca blinks and turns the weapon on it's side and shakes her head, flicking it off of the safe position and smirking at you. This time she fires off several shots towards the target, each one missing the mark by several inches off to the left, which is seen when the target comes back to them.
Although she covers her mouth in an attempt to hide the snickers, Elisabeth's eyes crinkle up in amusement as she laughs behind her hand. Immediately several things suggest themselves to the blonde and she shakes her head as she watches. When the target comes back, Liz pulls her headset off and says, "Wow, you have a serious pull. Some of it's the fact that you're sore," she tells Becca. "The rest is probably an eye dominance issue. Next round, go back to the basics of your training. Keep your balance spread evenly on your feet, keep your feet planted firmly beneath your shoulders. Keep both your eyes open. And given what I'm seeing so far, unlock your elbows. They should be solid but not locked." And then she steps back to wait for the next round.
Rebecca is mostly looking at Liz's lips as she speaks with the ringing in her ears and the headphone type hearing protection, she can barely hear what the woman is saying. She finally lifts her brown eyes up and smiles at her trainer and nods. "Okay. Let me see what I can do with that." The target is replaced and sent back down the line. Rebecca adds ammo to the magazine and shoves it back into the weapon before and this time ensures that the weapon is not on safe when she raises it up to fire. The seven shots ring out and then the weapon stops firing as she exhausts the magazine. This time she hits the target, but doesn't really have a very good shot group at all. There are no shots to the head, though that may be intentional on her part.
Better. Not by much, but better. This time Liz is watching how she handles the recoil. It's very clear to her that Becca doesn't like to handle the weapon, though she's competent. It's time she gets more than competent. Glancing around, Elisabeth waits until the target comes back up and yanks the headsets off both of them, surrounding them in a silence field that blocks the higher, sharper tones of the pistol altogether. "Are you fighting the gun when it recoils, Becca?" she asks loudly enough that she'll be heard through the ringing in Rebecca's ears — a problem that won't happen anymore. "Do one more clip. I'm going to steady your stance while you do it. Let it recoil up and back down, THEN steady it for the next shot. You're wavering in your aim and I think it may be because the recoil's not done when you try to aim again. Speed's not a factor today. Just getting a good aim. Getting the feel of how it feels when the aim is on target."
At least she's hitting the target. The poor victim of her arsenal assault may not appreciate the shots to the shoulder, gut, thigh and groin, but at least he won't be advancing on her any time soon. "Okay, so slow down. I can do that." With the headphones off, she reaches up and brushes hair from her face and puts the goggles back on as she reaches for another magazine and loads it up, slamming it into the weapon. At least she's getting better at that part.
She takes a deep breath this time and slowly lifts the weapon up. Her elbows would visibly unlock as instructed before, and she widens her stance. Then she fires. One, then one, then one, then one until all rounds have been fired. She's taking her time with each shot and attempting to line them up. She pulls her goggles off as the target comes forward. This time, her shot group are all in and around the target's shoulder, except for a single stray near it's ear.
"Nice!" Elisabeth compliments. "See how it starts to feel a little less like a wrestling match if you let the weapon have its head?" She points to the grouping. "That's tight. A little high and left still…." She trails off and wonders if the problem is not so much Becca's eyes as the fact that the other woman has problems with the possibility of actually hitting center mass. "I'd say the one at the ear's an outlyer," she finishes her thought. "Reload. Do it again." There's a moment, and she says quietly, "And Rebecca? In a situation where you might ever need to pull your weapon…. it's already gone to hell. Life or death. I'd really like it if you were the one to come home alive, should push come to shove. So try for center mass. Even if your target's in a vest or armor, it usually slows them down well enough."
Rebecca actually smiles as she is complimented on her improvement. She's starting to feel her confidence build. She's stayed so long in her little box of what she can do, it actually feels nice to step out and try something new and see improvement. Liz' words are acknowledged with a nods, until she comments on the 'center mass'. This will be hard for her, though who can know what she'd be capable of in a situation like that. She internally chastizes herself for being dumb over a paper target and nods to Elisabeth. "Okay. You're right." She begins to feed the magazine again, then locks and loads. This time the target gets no mercy, as she fires off those shots, one at a time. It's almost apparent in her form that she's growing confidence in what she's doing. When the target gets back, there are six shots in the chest and one in the throat. She actually winces at that shot.
"Damn," Liz whistles. The shots were entirely silent from Becca's perspective this time, and sometimes that does seem to help people get the hang of it. "That's a beautiful shot, even though I know for a fact you didn't do it on purpose," she says with a grin at the other woman. "That, though — that is exactly what I think you need to see. Now it's just a matter of keeping on with it. Putting lots and lots and lots and lots of rounds into the target, regularly."
Giving a sigh of relief at doing better, she glances over at Liz and asks, "Is there anything new going on?" Rebecca has tried to be around as much as possible, but doesn't like to feel like she's intruding. She done a little investigating on her own, but nothing has really turned up. A few small jobs here and there for previous clients. This may very well be the first time they've gotten to talk in a couple of weeks. She starts to relead the clip again.
"Well, Richard's found a building. It's going to need, possibly, a bit of renovation work and certainly some interior decorating help. But we'll be open for business by month's end, I hope. I found out that my contract with FRONTLINE won't allow for overt purchasing into the business myself, so I'll be an advisor and possibly on contract as necessary. Not that it will change anything." She pauses. "You're likely to see some insane things going on in the basement of the building. We were handed some intel this past week regarding some of the upcoming problems and how they tie together." Literally. "Once that's set up and ready to go, we're going to give all of you the guided tour of string maps and how to study them so that you'll be able to spend some time yourself seeing if anything comes to you. But essentially, it's sort of like the cop's white board. We know some things are coming, and we may be able to head off some of them just by seeing them laid out. We'll see."
Rebecca is pulling back on her goggles as Liz' finishes speaking, slamming the magazine back into the weapon. "Well, whenever you need me, you know where to find me." She's still getting all her things together at her old place, preparing to move to wherever she's going to move. Nothing has really popped up for her just yet. "And as far as insane things go, I guess I'm going to be baptized in the hard way. So far, none of this is making sense to me, so maybe if it gets any worse, then it'll come around and make sense after all."
Elisabeth laughs. "Tell me what's not making sense," she invites. Because after all, they're in the bubble now and can talk while they do this.
The weapon is put on safe and set on the stand. The two women have a discussion about things. There are serious moments, and laughter and by the time they've finished, there's a better understanding of things on Rebecca's part. At least as far as her logical mind will be allowed to stretch. She's finding that her mind is opening a little to other possibilies. Things, she's finding, are not so logical any longer. As the discussion comes to a close, Rebecca picks up the weapon and fires it. Center mass. Six shots. One to the groin. As the target comes back and she shakes her head. "I swear I have no idea why I keep doing something different with that last shot.."
There's a laugh when that target comes back. "I have no idea," Elisabeth admits. "Maybe you're bored?" She eyes the target and then teases, "But that's a perfect set of shots if you want my opinion."
Pulling her goggles off her face, Rebecca sets them down and grins over at Liz, shaking her head. "You might think so, but I am fairly certain 'he' wouldn't think so."